For a couple of years, Wayne Cryderman felt a burning sensation in his left elbow. But he was Crusher Kline. Surely it was all part of the game.

After all, night after night he exchanged punches and wrestling holds with some of the most dastardly men in the business.

"Turns out it was a broken elbow," says Cryderman, who calls Osgoode home. "I'd broken it three years prior to that, but I just kept wrestling.

"You just think it's another ache and pain. I guess I was thinking if I stopped, there was somebody going to replace me."

But he got the elbow fixed and after two years out of wrestling -- where he was based out of Ohio -- he's returned home, ready to get back into action with Canadian Professional Wrestling, a successful operation in Hull. He's been helping train the association's wrestlers at the St-Joseph Rec Centre (also known as the CPW Arena), chomping at the bit to return.

"I guess it's something you can never get out of your system," says the 35-year-old Cryderman. "I'm really excited about how it's going to feel to return."

Cryderman, who left to train for his wrestling debut in the summer of 1995, got a big break early.

"I got lucky," he says. "For a lot of guys, their first match is in a bingo hall. My first match was in Tokyo, in front of 5,000 people, against Koji Kitao, a grand champion sumo wrestler. I got $2,000 US for one match. When reality kicks in, though, and you get back to the States, you're getting $15 for a 51/2-hour one-way drive in a beat-up Hyundai Pony.

"That's why I love wrestling. You get beat up and you end up with less money than you left with."

Cryderman learned the ropes under WWE's Al Snow.

"Here, we train three days a week," says Cryderman. "But there, we trained every day for two months. I stayed and went through every class for two years."

He faced stars such as King Kong Bundy and Ricky Morton and teamed with Barry Darsow of Demolition fame.

"We became Russians and fought against the Road Warriors," says Cryderman. "We were in the hotel room one night ... I always had the George Foreman grill with me. I heard a rap on the door and it was Animal (of the Road Warriors) and he said: 'What are ya cookin' Kid, chicken?' The next thing you know both Animal and Hawk were there and they stayed for two hours."

As a trainer, Cryderman worked with future stars like Kane (Glen Jacobs) and Stone Cold Steve Austin (Steve Williams), who was about to embark on his short-lived Ringmaster gimmick.

- Former Ohio Valley Wrestling star Nick Dinsmore surfaced on RAW -- as Eric Bischoff's "special" nephew Eugene Dinsmore. He will be managed by the returning William Regal. Now I've had a problem with more than a few of WWE's storylines. Triple H's necrophilia stunt was way beyond funny. But this Dinsmore schtick is off the board. Do we need to make fun of those who are "mentally challenged?" Making characters a little off the wall is one thing, but you've got to wonder what the scriptwriters were smoking when they dreamed this up.

- Tomorrow night's RAW on TSN will be delayed until midnight, thanks to the NHL playoffs.

- Reports suggest Austin is trying to strike up a new deal with WWE.

- Good to see Matt Hardy get more TV time, but it'd be wonderful to see his brother Jeff return.

- Tickets for Toronto's Smackdown! show on June 1 will now go on sale on May 1, at 11 a.m. Tickets for the May 29 show in Kingston go on sale Apr. 24, at 10:30 a.m.

- Wild Dangerous Dan lost a bloody steel cage street fight match to Pierre Carl Ouellet at the last CPW event. There was friction between Dan and his manager J.J. Crooke and Tray Hugh Mongus. Rick Sterling and Thunder won the tag titles from Guy Sauriol and Michael Von Payton. The next card is the April 17 Breach of Trust, headlined by Dynamite Tommy Blade vs. Paranoid Jake Matthews. For more details, check out www.cpwinternational.com.